REAL WEDDINGS / FRANCE
Brittney & Zeus’s Romantic Château Martinay Wedding
At Château Martinay in Provence, Brittney and Zeus blended French elegance, Indian-inspired traditions and deeply personal music for an intimate destination wedding.
Photography
Valery Villard
Wedding Planning and Design
The International Wedding Planner
Venue
Chateau Martinay
Photography by Valery Villard.
The most personal weddings are rarely the ones with the largest guest lists – they are the ones where every single detail has been chosen because it means something to someone in the room.
Brittney and Zeus — she Indian-American, he Cuban-American — chose France as the setting for a celebration that didn’t ask them to choose between their cultures. Instead, surrounded by 18 of their closest family and friends at Château Martinay in Provence on July 28, they built something entirely their own: a wedding where Bollywood instrumentals played as guests arrived with Prosecco, where an Indian flower garland ritual unfolded beneath Provençal stone, and where the final song of the night was Coldplay. Four cultures, one afternoon, zero compromises.
The coordination throughout was by Muriel Saldalamacchia of The International Wedding Planner, whose ability to weave together the couple’s multicultural vision with the elegance of a French château resulted in a day that felt both deeply personal and effortlessly cohesive.
The Setting
Château Martinay sits in the heart of Provence — its stone architecture, lavender-scented gardens and unhurried atmosphere making it one of the region’s most quietly beautiful wedding settings. For Brittney and Zeus, who had always imagined France as the backdrop for their celebration, it offered the rare combination of old-world grandeur and genuine intimacy. With only 18 guests, the château didn’t swallow the celebration — it held it.
The weekend began the evening before with a rehearsal dinner: gravlax salmon, slow-cooked lamb, cheese, and crème brûlée on the château terrace, the kind of meal that sets the tone for everything that follows.
Getting Ready
Brittney prepared in an intricately embroidered lehenga, while Zeus wore an ivory sherwani. The rich textures and detailed craftsmanship introduced the cultural story of the day before the ceremony began.
The Ceremony
The wedding day opened with Prosecco and Bollywood instrumentals — a pairing that announced immediately what kind of celebration this would be. Zeus walked in with his mother to “Lumière.” Brittney followed with her father to an edited version of “Shava Shava,” a detail that drew a quiet thread between the Provençal setting and her Indian heritage before a word had been spoken.
Celebrant Alexandra Baro then introduced the flower garland ritual — an Indian-inspired tradition in which the couple exchange garlands as a symbol of acceptance and respect. Against the backdrop of a French château, the gesture felt both ancient and entirely contemporary. A tribute to Brittney’s grandmother was woven into the ceremony, and the couple exchanged vows and rings before exiting to a Bollywood remix as guests showered them with petals.
Portraits in Provence
The château’s pale stone façade, formal gardens and winding staircases created a cinematic setting for portraits. Later, Brittney changed into a lace gown for a second series of images at golden hour.
The Celebration
A disco-chic cocktail hour followed — champagne, elegant hors d’oeuvres and the particular atmosphere that comes from a small group of people who genuinely know and love each other. For dinner, Brittney and Zeus made their entrance to “Where Is My Husband” — a moment of levity that set the tone for an evening of French-inspired cuisine, speeches, and a soundtrack that moved between 1980s classics, reggae and groovy house.
As the sun set, the couple cut their tiramisu cake indoors before the parent dances. Brittney’s father-daughter dance was kept as a surprise — her father had secretly chosen the song himself, a detail that landed exactly as those things do when they’re entirely unplanned. Zeus and his mother followed. Then the couple’s first dance: “Mi Bendición” — a blessing, in every sense.
The party continued into the early hours, closing on “A Sky Full of Stars.” It was, by any measure, exactly the wedding Brittney and Zeus had imagined.
A Night of Music and Celebration
After cutting their tiramisu indoors, Brittney and Zeus shared special dances with their parents. Their first dance to “Mi Bendición” opened the party, which continued into the early hours and closed with “A Sky Full of Stars.”
A Note on the Design
More than a beautiful destination wedding, this was a celebration built around intention. The intimate guest list, the carefully chosen music, the flower garland ritual, the surprise father-daughter dance — nothing was there by accident. At Château Martinay, French elegance met Indian-inspired tradition and Cuban-American joy in a celebration that felt, above all, like the two people at the centre of it.
WedLuxe Glitterati Members
Destination Wedding Planner
The International Wedding Planner
The Team
Every professional who shaped this story, listed by role.
Wedding Planner
Photography
Venue
Videography
Floral Design
Rentals
Stationery
Content Creation
Celebrant
Hair & Makeup
Catering
DJ
Mehndi
Lehenga
Jewellery
Sherwani
Wedding Dress